Taxus 103 



In England the yew is indigenous on all the chalky Downs of Sussex, 

 Hampshire, and Wilts. According to Bromfield,^ the yew is one of the few 

 natural ornaments of our South Downs, over the bare sides and summits of which 

 it is scattered abundantly as single trees, frequently of great size and antiquity ; 

 sometimes in groups ; more rarely forming groves in the bottoms or valleys 

 between these rounded hills, or in the steep woods which clothe their sheltered 

 slopes: He mentions as one of the most remarkable of these yew groves, that at 

 Kingsley Bottom, near Chichester. The yew is remarkably plentiful on the banks 

 of the Wye, about Chepstow and Tintern, and grows in the most inaccessible 

 positions on the limestone cliffs there, as it does also on the rocks of Matlock. The 

 rocks at Borrodale and on Conzie Scar, near Kendal, are also truly natural stations 

 of the yew.^ The yew is frequent in the woods of Monmouthshire, and in the 

 ancient forest of Cranbourne Chase in Dorsetshire.^ In the Wyre Forest it is 

 certainly wild, occurring now as isolated trees amidst the beech and oak. In 

 Seckley Wood, on the Severn, there are indigenous yew trees, one of which is 

 remarkable for its curious pendulous habit.^ It ascends to 1500 feet in Northumber- 

 land." 



Concerning the occurrence of the yew as a wild plant in Scotland our informa- 

 tion is scanty. Hooker^ states that it is indigenous as far north as Aberdeen and 

 Argyll. White* records it from Breadalbane in Perthshire. Lightfoot,^ writing in 

 1777, says it was found here and there in the Highlands in a truly wild state, and 

 that there were the remains of an old wood of yew at Glenure in Upper Lorn, 

 Argyllshire. 



It is now of rare occurrence in the wild state in Ireland. According to 

 Praeger,* it is found on rocks, cliffs, in old woods, and on lake shores, now almost 

 confined to the west. It is recorded from various localities from Kerry to Donegal, 

 and Praeger considers that some of these instances may represent the last remnants 

 of aboriginal stock ; but it is impossible now to say definitely, as introduced trees 

 grow around the supposed wild ones. The yews in the rough wood at Avondale, in 

 Wicklow, may be wild. Many years ago Moore" found the yew growing at 

 Benyevena, in Co. Derry, in the crevices of the rocks, at an elevation of 1 200 feet, 

 when it assumed the appearance of a low shrub. In Smith's Kerry (1756), it 

 is stated that " the yew grew in prodigious quantities in all our southern baronies 

 until it was destroyed for making coals for the iron-works." '" 



In Norway the yew is called " Barlind," and, according to Schubeler," grows 

 wild only in the south, especially along the coast, the farthest point north known to 

 him being near Sondmore, in lat. 62 30" N., where it attains the height of 32 feet. 

 In the east it does not extend farther north than Hurdalen, lat. 60 35', where it 

 attains a height of 8-10 feet. Schubeler mentions as the largest yews known 



' Flora Vutensis, p. 472. ' Lowe, loc. cit. p. 28. 



' Strangways in Loudon's Card. Mag. 1839, p. 119. * Trans. Worcester Nat. Hist. Club, 1847 -1896, p. 16. 



' Stud. Flora Brit, islands, 369 (1878). " Flora of Perthshire, 283 (1898). 



' Flora Scotica, ii. 626 (1777). * Free. Roy. Irish Acad. vii. 290 (1901). 



Mackay, Flora Hibernica, 260 (1836). i Cybele Hibernica, 331 (1898). 



" Schubeler, Viridarium Norvegicum, p. 448. 



